British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and South Korean peer SK bioscience have begun final stage trials of a COVID-19 jab after positive early results, they announced Tuesday.The vaccine is facing a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess its "safety and immunogenicity" when compared with AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine, the two companies said in a joint statement.GSK is still trailing in the wake of Anglo-Swedish rival AstraZeneca, which rapidly developed a successful jab alongside Oxford

The pandemic slowed for the fifth week in a row around the world, especially in Europe and Asia, including in India, which nevertheless continued to bear the brunt.Here is the global state of play according to a specialised AFP database.15 Percent Drop The number of new daily COVID-19 cases around the globe dropped by 15 percent over the week, according to an AFP toll to Thursday.The number of confirmed cases only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with different

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that a variant of COVID-19 behind the acceleration of India's explosive outbreak has been found in dozens of countries all over the world.The United Nations (UN) health agency said the B.1.617 variant of COVID-19, first found in India in October, had been detected in more than 4,500 samples uploaded to an open-access database "from 44 countries in all six WHO regions"."And WHO has received reports of detections from five a

Fast-spreading coronavirus variants have ignited global concern over whether existing vaccines will be able to protect the world from a virus that is constantly mutating.Variants that have emerged in Britain, South Africa, Brazil and now India have all been the focus of fears of implications for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's what we know.How Many Variants?Viruses continually mutate as tiny errors are introduced each time they replicate and cause new variants to appear.

Mention the Boxer Rebellion nowadays, and most people in the west would look baffled. Not so the Chinese, who have longer memories.They have not forgotten the invasion launched in 1900 by the United States (US), Britain, Germany, France and other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance to suppress the anti-foreigner, anti-missionary uprising.

Despite stark failures in curbing COVID-19's spread, Britain has scored a notable success with its mass vaccination drive, giving 15 million people a first dose by Sunday.Here are some of the factors behind the speedy rollout.Early BackingIn May 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) government signed a deal with the University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca to buy 100 million doses of their still unproven vaccine, three months before the European Union (EU) followed suit.It a

The European Commission on Tuesday urged EU nations to lift travel bans imposed on Britain to halt the spread of a coronavirus variant that has swept the United Kingdom (UK) and spurred global panic just as vaccines are being rolled out.

Britain's health minister warned Sunday that a strict lockdown imposed on London and southeast England may last for months because a new strain of the coronavirus was "out of control".Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Saturday that millions must cancel Christmas plans and stay at home from Sunday morning because the new strain was spreading far more quickly. Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the strict measures that affect almost a third of England's

Britain and Vietnam on Friday finalised a free trade agreement (FTA), the second deal London has reached in Southeast Asia in as many days while deadlock continues over post-Brexit European Union (EU) arrangements.The deal with Vietnam comes into force 1 January, 2021 and will be Britain's third, following Thursday's pact with Singapore and October's first post-Brexit trade deal with Japan.Vietnam stands to benefit from tariff savings of £114 million (US$150.6 million) on its e

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, reports on Sunday said, as the biggest immunisation programme in United Kingdom (UK) history begins next week.The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early in the rollout, which gets underway Tuesday, due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, several newspapers reported.Britain's most senior royals will "let it be know